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The manuals

I have written a manual, "Beyond Compost,+" that is for sale at Amazon.com

The Spanish translation of the same manual is now also available on Amazon.com. The Spanish title is "Mas Alla del Compost".
Both books are available at our website BioPretaSuperSoil

A visit to Amazon.com allows you to browse some of the pages in the manuals, including the Table of Contents and costs nothing. I think you will like them. They have quite a few pictures.

Both manuals have an extensive list of organic wastes, arranged according to the "Carbon/Nitrogen Ratios". They have a combined Index/Glossary of terms used in vermiculture including many technical words that are not used in the manuals, for easy reference elsewhere (Wikipedia, etc). I have a detailed Appendix on building the base of a VermiChester unit, the heart of the process. Another detailed Appendix covers building a VermiHarvester that turns the tedium of harvesting the final product into a simple activity.

One chapter is focused on "Source Separation". During the considerable research for the manual I was struck by the number of children who had not experienced recycling in their homes, and had not wondered where things went when they were thrown away. The educational beginning is to teach children the difference between inorganic waste and organic waste. Many schools have initiated programs to vermicompost lunchroom waste with some success. I should say with fantastic success, since learning the difference between these "wastes" is the main idea, regardless of the end product. I would encourage you to separate your organics, if only as an example to your children and grandchildren. If you have to sneak out in the middle of the night and dump your organics in the garbage can, you will at least have set an example of responsibility, for them.

One of the reasons for this blog is to connect readers of the manuals to me and to each other so we can improve medium-sized vermiculture as we gain more experience and try new applications. The most recent new information involves "biochar", and I hope you will look at that tab next. I hope to write another manual. Maybe it could be called "Further Beyond VermiCompost".

Four of my children are teachers, and we have initiated a vermicomposting program at one of the schools. I will report on our progress.The hardest part is getting all the adults on board.

A good companion manual about getting buy-in is "The Worm Cafe", and of course, the very first manual to own is "Worms Eat My Garbage" by the late Mary Appelhof, the mother of vermiculture education.

If you would like to have these manuals in your school or local library, have the librarian contact me at vermichester@yahoo.com for a discounted price.